– The Rangers were defeated by the Boston Bruins, 2-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden to end their four-game winning streak, and are now 6-2-0 in the last eight games.

– New York has posted a record of 50-22-7 (107 pts) overall, including a 27-11-2 mark at home.

– The Rangers own a five-point lead over Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference standings. New York’s magic number to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference is one point relative to Pittsburgh.

– Tonight’s contest was the Blueshirts’ 15th and final against an Original Six opponent this season. The Rangers posted a record of 8-7-0 in those contests. Marian Gaborik, who notched the Rangers’ lone goal this evening, led the team in scoring with eight goals and 14 points against Original Six opponents.

– Tonight’s loss ended the Rangers’ five-game winning streak against the Bruins. New York is now 9-3-0 against Boston in their last 12 meetings.

– 17 of the last 21 meetings between the Rangers and Bruins have been decided by one goal, including six games that required extra time and five that went to the shootout, dating back to Mar. 24, 2007. Three of the other four games during the stretch were decided by two goals, while one was decided by three goals. New York is 10-5-2 in one-goal games against Boston over the span.

– The Blueshirts out-shot the Bruins, 34-21, including a 19-3 advantage in the third period. The 19 shots in the third were the most by the Rangers in a single period this season.

– The Rangers out-hit the Bruins, 31-22, and were credited with 19 blocked shots in the contest. Brian Boyle led all skaters with five hits, while Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan each registered four hits. John Mitchell was credited with a game-high, four blocked shots, and Dan Girardi recorded three blocked shots in the contest.

Player Notes:

– Marian Gaborik notched his 40th goal of the season at 4:33 of the first period to extend his point streak to five games (five goals, three assists over the span), and registered three shots on goal in 23:50 of ice time. He became the third Ranger in franchise history to register multiple 40-goal seasons with the team (Mike Gartner – 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93; Jean Ratelle – 1971-72, 1972-73). It is the third time in his career, and second time in three seasons with the Rangers, he reached the 40-goal mark. Gaborik has now tallied 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in the last 13 games. He finished the season series against Boston with a team-high, four goals and five points.

– Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves and is now 38-17-5 overall, including a 21-9-2 mark at home. He has held opponents to two or fewer goals in seven of the last nine games (6-3-0, 2.09 GAA, .910 Sv% over the span). Lundqvist has now started in 24 consecutive games against Boston, dating back to Jan. 13, 2007.

Post-Game Quotes:

– John Tortorella on tonight’s game… “We played a good hockey game. (Tim) Thomas was the difference. He made some key saves at some key times. It’s the type of game, these games against Boston, it’s just that one little mistake and it goes into the net. Unfortunately, it’s hard. These are hard games.”

– Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game… “It’s always a one goal game against these guys. They are really good through the neutral zone, and in their defensive zone they are really stingy. And (Tim) Thomas played really well for them.”

– Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game… “At the end of the day, they ended up putting more away than we could. We weren’t really thinking about it (overall points) too much. All along we’ve been concentrating on our game, and what we need to do. If we do what we have to do, everything else will fall into place.”

– The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, Apr. 3, at Wells Fargo Center (7:00 p.m.), in an Atlantic Division matchup. The game will be televised live on MSG 2 and can be heard on Bloomberg Radio.